Gordon Lightfoot Book, Music and More!

A selection of 2016's finest recordings, in no particular order: Radiohead  A Moon Shaped Pool - How can something so harrowing sound so sweet? Rich in symphonic and folky lushness, it’s big, beautiful and a little nightmarish.Beyoncé  Lemonade - With profound and touching songs about family ties, racial pride and female strength, Beyoncé makes a powerful personal statement and her career-defining album.David Bowie Blackstar - Bowie’s swan song, a trippy, jazz-infused art rock album that includes the shape-shifting, apocalyptic title track.Solange  A Seat at the Table - A stunning accomplishment for Beyoncé’s once-overshadowed sister: a gorgeous album that is both political an...

David Bowie 8 January 1947 - 10 January 2016 I interviewed Bowie on the morning of March 17, 1987, in a Toronto hotel room. He was the most extraordinarily controlled and self-contained subject I'd ever faced, immaculately dressed and absolutely oozing confidence. I remember wondering if he was really that self-assured or simply an extremely good actor (which of course he was). He later performed at a mid-afternoon press conference at the oldDiamond Club on Sherbourne Street, which I was lucky enough to attend, with a five-piece band that included Peter Frampton (see photo above). In looking back at my transcript, Bowie's intelligence and self-awareness leaps off the page. When I asked if he...

Rock’s most famous chameleon has changed personas countless times during his career, from Ziggy Stardust to the Thin White Duke. With each mask comes a new sound. For his 25th album, Blackstar (stylized as a symbol), the icon threw out the rulebook. His longtime producer, Tony Visconti, says the goal was to avoid rock ’n’ roll and create a new fusion sound. Released to coincide with the singer-actor’s 69th birthday, the seven-song album includes the unsettling title track, a shape-shifting, apocalyptic torch song that runs nearly 10 minutes, and “Lazarus,” the horn-drenched title number from Bowie's current off-Broadway musical, based on The Man Who Fell to Earth (he starred in the...

David Bowie is full of surprises. His frequent ch-ch-changes over the years, both in sound and image, are the reason the term “musical chameleon” was invented. But the British icon’s dramatic return this month, after a decade living quietly in New York with his Somali-American model wife, Iman, and their daughter, caught even the most ardent Bowiephiles off guard. While deciphering Bowie is always a challenge, The Next Day deals with the anxious state of a chaotic world. There are ballads like the wistful, Berlin-referencing “Where Are We Now” and the elegiac “You Feel So Lonely You Could Die.” But the album is heavily rock-oriented. Thought-provoking songs such as the Ziggy Stardust-like ti...